Thea

"I'm not going."

"Yes, you are. Get dressed. It's our first Halloween in college, we have to go." Kari exclaims crossing her arms while cornering me with Sienna. And I mean, literally cornering. I'm standing up with my back smooshed against a wall while the other two face me with no way of escaping.

"We literally just went out this past weekend to celebrate Halloween. It's a Tuesday night and I have an 8AM tomorrow morning. You bitches don't have class until the late afternoon."

It's been 30 minutes now and my dorm suitemates Kari and Sienna have been peer pressuring me into going out on a weeknight. Sure, it's our freshman year and its Halloween night and all, but tonight I would like to be the "good" and "trustworthy" daughter my parents are praying me to be. Plus, I have my Java coding class tomorrow morning and I'm going to need all my brain cells to focus on what Professor Wang will be teaching.

Like any other new college student, I enjoy my fair share of partying, but when it comes down to me waking up at 7:30am for an 8am class where I just know we're going to be out until the wee hours of the morning despite it being a Tuesday night, I am avoiding it. I would like my beauty sleep thank you very much.

"Come onnn Thea, we won't be out that late. I bet people are starting early tonight and ending early." Sienna says while we hear the loud yells of people out on the quad preparing to get into Ubers leading to frat houses scattered downtown. Giggles of girls probably stumbling already from pregaming and guys laughing loudly.

Suree. I internally roll my eyes, then glance at my laptop to see that it's already almost 9:30pm. We would be getting ready at this time any other weekend which just solidifies my point of staying in and sleeping early or I'll find myself coming back home at 2am and waking up tired as hell.

If I decided to go and I mean IF, it would take Kari at least an hour and a half to get ready and by the time we get to a rowdy, sweaty frat house with our fellow drunk peers it would be late enough, and these 2 like to party hard. Don't even get me started on if Sienna gets drunk, she'll want to stay until the party ends and theres no telling when that will happen.

I love these two and consider them to be my new best friends but they always somehow convince me to do some dumb shit with them that I end up regretting which usually involves the three of us being hungover to the point where we regret drinking, say we'll never drink again but proceed to go out the following weekend.

Yep, sounds like the life of any other student in college, cliche but true.

The three of us including my roommate Stella clicked the first day we moved into our dorm and we've done everything together. They don't bother asking Stella because she's more of a homebody and they know theres no point in trying.

However, with me, they know I'll cave in.

Kari grabs my shoulders and shakes me. "Come on bitch, just this one time. We don't do this often." While Sienna nods her head.

"Stella, please help me."

"Nope, you're on your own with those two!" She shouts from our bedroom. I glance over to see her tucked in comfortably into her bed probably watching a kdrama.

I let out a loud and long sigh while Kari and Sienna eye me closely. "Pleaseeee" they both whine together.

I roll my eyes "Fine. Only if--"

"Yeahh!" they both yell together cutting me off

"ONLY if you two can get ready quickly. I mean it!" I say, specifically glaring at Kari

"Fine, Fine" she says on her way to her room allowing me to finally leave from our stand off.

45 minutes later we find ourselves stepping out of an Uber to a house we've been frequenting this semester. Because of our last minute decision of going out, or at least my decision, we had to scrounge up the most basic of costumes not wanting to rewear our stuff from the weekend.

Kari is dressed in jeans with a red bralette and a headband with little devil horns, Sienna painted a cat nose and whisker on her face while wearing a lace bodysuit and a leather skirt while I'm a "boxer" wearing a robe from my closet with spandex and a sports bra. Kari did my eye makeup to resemble a black eye and figured this was enough for us.

The three of us get through the door easily with a nod from the guys manning the door and make our way to the basement. We link our hands together so we don't lose each other in the packed dance area while Sienna leads us to the little bar with jungle juice and beer. Kari has been casually hooking up with a guy from the frat and told us it's safe to drink the juice here so we each get a cup full taking a sip at the same time.

"Jesus, this is all liquor and no juice. They put a drop of punch in here or something?" I question, just as a pair of arms wrap around Kari's shoulders. Josh- the guy Kari has been hooking up with whispers something in her ear, making her giggle.

"Ladies, have fun and let any of my brothers know if you need anything, I'm stealing her for the night." He says and leads her out while she waves to us telling us to text her when we get home. Well, there goes our trio.

"You better not ditch me tonight, after all that convincing" I eye Sienna

"Of course I won't!" she says looping her arm into mine. "Lets go play some pong!"

After losing three rounds because our aim sucks and we're up against people who seem to be pro at this, we're more than drunk enough. We also made the dumb decision to play one more time in hopes of finally winning but once again, we lose badly to the random guys in front of us.

"Come on ladies, you know the rules. You gotta take a shot with the beer this time since it was such a bad beat" The guy to the right of us dressed as Clark Kent says, with a smirk gracing his face.

We both groan but Sienna grabs the bottle of honey jack in front of us and waterfalls a shot full of liquor into her mouth. I, on the other hand want to gag just by watching her drink it. Not only have I barely ate anything today because I wasn't expecting to be drinking tonight, but I've also taken at least three more shots than Sienna. I'm barely 5 feet tall and all that alcohol is currently hitting me like a truck. See, this is what I mean when I say I do dumb shit with the girls.

"No way, I can't do it" I say turning back to the guys in front of us "I'm gonna yack if I drink anymore, I'm opting this one out."

The guy to our left dressed as a lumberjack lifts an eyebrow and says "No can do, sweetheart. A deals a deal. Or you can have your friend take it for you."

Sienna glances at me and gives me a dirty look mouthing "You better take it".

I cross my arms, the sleeves of my black silk robe rising to my elbows. "Absolutely not. I can't do it."

The light above our pong table flicks a little brighter in the dim lighting giving us more of a clear view of the guys in front of us and their physical appearance. Both attractive and tall guys with clear muscular builds. Probably athletes at our school, but I don't keep track of who's who on campus. They then look at each other and have a short conversation but it's hard to hear over the booming music in the other corner of the basement.

After a minute or so, they look around the room as if looking for someone while Clark Kent lifts his chin and nods discreetly to some corner. His friend lets a wide grin spread to his face and looks over at me.

"Fine, if you don't want to take the last shot, you'll have to do a dare in place of it."

My lip quirks "Depends on the dare."

"See that guy in the corner over there dressed as Waldo from Where's Waldo?" Clark asks

I squint my eyes attempting to peer through people trying to find him through the crowd.

My eyebrows furrow "No, I can't see him but what do you want me to do?"

Lumberjack says "We dare you to walk right up to him and give him a quick peck."

"Ew, no. Do I look like I want mono? I don't know what that guy has."

They roll their eyes at me "Relax, shorty he's perfectly healthy. Are you scared? its either this or the shot" Lumberjack says wagging his eyebrows

See, another one of those dumb moments I'm talking about. I could've been in my pjs reading a smutty book in bed instead of being peer pressured again. Ugh.

"Come on T, you got this. Don't be a wuss." Sienna says as I punch her in the arm. "This is your fault" I say, as I glare at her.

"Clocks ticking, shorty. Chop, chop" Clark says pointing in the direction of the man.

"Call me shorty one more time and I'll knee you in the balls" I say, giving him the finger while dragging myself in the direction he was pointing

I glance around the area again looking for Waldo, I snicker to myself at the irony. Finally spotting the only guy wearing a red and white striped shirt with fake glasses frames I do a quick once over of him and freeze. The man is fucking gorgeous. Built like a god, he's tall with firm legs fit in light washed jeans, at least a foot taller than my petite frame. I can clearly see his muscular arms outlined by his t shirt. Lean, not super broad. Through the dim lighting I make out his dark hair color and the beautiful lines of his face as he throws his head back laughing loudly at something one of the guys next to him in his little group says. I can't make out the color of his eyes in the dark and this far away but it's clear the guy is 10/10 hot.

What it does take a minute longer for me to notice is the blond wrapped around his arm dressed as a very skimpy angel in a white miniskirt that showcases her fit legs and her tits popped out in a low cut tank top (not that theres anything wrong with that, no slut shaming here or anything like that, she looks hot and I applaud her) but I wince and turn around stumbling slightly from my unclear brain fog of alcohol and look to the two morons who dared me for help widening my eyes and showcasing on my face that "Hello! This guy has a girlfriend and there's no way in hell I'm doing anything like that! I'm not a home wrecker nor do I need trouble with anyone!!" No, thank you.

The guys wave to me like its fine and clearly enunciates "Doesn't have a girlfriend". Then points to the bottle of honey jack as a threat. I stick my tongue out pretending to gag and frown wondering if my drunken brain misread any of that and turn back around.

Just as I'm looking back at Waldo, I hear the loud screechy giggles of angel trying her best to show how funny whatever was said was, wanting to claim and soak up Waldo's attention. I cringe at how desperate she looks but Waldo seems to like it? To each their own I guess.

The alcohol running through my system seems to give me the courage to walk up to him, right to the middle of the little group him and his friends are standing in. As I come face to face with him he lifts an eyebrow at me, confused as to why I'm here. You and me both, Waldo.

I then take a deep breath and ask him "Do you have a girlfriend?" while shooting my eyes quickly at Angel and fidgeting with my robe.

"No, why?" He asks while gently pushing Angel off his arm.

"Wife, husband, boyfriend, lover of any kind?"

"Nope" He says, his lips twitching in a small smile. I take a quick peek over my shoulder to make sure Sienna is okay on her own and that lumberjack and Clark are watching only to see them walking towards us.

My palms get clammy and I feel like I'm sobering up just at the thought of doing this. I take a slow inhale in, steadying my breath. I step on my tippy toes and grab his neck bringing his face down to me and press my lips to his. He smells woodsy, like pine and I can subtly taste wintermint on his lips as if he was just chewing gum recently and spit it out. Even though its technically me crowding his space, it feels like his whole being is up against mine. Butterflies dance in my lower belly, somehow still registering through my somewhat drunken haze.

Just as I'm about to pull back from him and slip my hands from his shoulders, Waldo grabs my waist and deepens the kiss. I let out a gasp at the new angle, while he takes advantage of it by slipping his tongue in my mouth colliding it with mine. Our lips continue to meet in soft tangles.

I decide to finally break the kiss, overwhelmed of his entire being even though it was the best kiss I've ever had. As his hands slip from my back and I step away I finally get to see his eyes up close. They're a light beautiful seafoam green, with flecks of light brown in them. My favorite color. Jesus, this guy can't get any better looking. Just as he's about to say something, I'm somewhat aware of Angel stomping away on her heels, angry that I've come to makeout with the guy she was probably hoping to hook up with tonight. I wince a little at that, again, not a home wrecker.

But just as Waldo is about to say something else, Clark comes over to smack him on the back and laughs loudly while Sienna grabs my arm, her eyes widening and pulls me to the side mouthing to me, "He's fine".

Lumberjack claps his hands and turns to look at me "Well, well well, didn't think you had it in you shor-," he clears his throat "Little boxer".

Waldo looks to Lumberjack questioningly, "What the fuck are you talking about Quinn?"

"We dared Miss little boxer thing here to kiss you when she refused a shot." Clark says with a laugh looking at me while I smirk at them feeling victorious that I actually completed the dare. And just like that, I sobered up.

"Well, we can't keep calling you guys by your costumes all night. What are your names?" Asks Quinn, while Waldo looks at me his eyes traveling down my body before moving back to my eyes.

***

Hii to anyone who's reading! Sorry that this first chapter is so long but I really wanted this group's first meet to have a bunch of details to set the story background. Future chapters may be this length or could even be super short depending on what the scene is! :)